Not All About You
by strawberrysnares
Summary: 'She tries to put up a facade, but he sees through it. She looks down at her hands, anything to avoid eye contact with him. ' Series of Percabeth one-shots.
1. Thinking Too Much

_A/N: Just a short, angsty Percy/Annabeth one shot, set almost immediately after Percy returns from Calypso's Island. _

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><p>"I thought about it, you know," he says, sitting down on the deck next to her. She had just ran out of the Big House in a hurry for reasons unknown to Percy. He looks at her and sees for the first time how worried she actually was about him. Her face is streaked with tears, her gray eyes full of concern, her blonde hair not even combed. His heart aches at the sight, knowing it was his fault.<p>

"About what?" she asks, sniffling. She tries to put up a facade, but he sees through it. She looks down at her hands, anything to avoid eye contact with him.

"About staying," he says, looking out to the water. He lets his feet dangle off the side of the dock, the water calming him down. "About never leaving. Leaving all of this," he gestures to the camp behind them. "Leaving the prophecy," he sighs softly and takes a deep breath. "About leaving you." He tries to meet her eyes, but she keeps her focus on her hands. She swallows, most likely chocking back tears.

"Why didn't you?" She asks, her voice filled with sorrow. She brings her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly. She doesn't want to admit it, but every word he says breaks her heart even more. She'd worried about him for days and days, thinking she had lost her best friend; thinking she had lost her everything. Now, here he was, telling her things she could have lived her whole life without knowing.

He shrugs as if it's no big deal to be telling her these things, as if she won't care. "Maybe I should have," he says, leaning back on his hands. "It would have been a lot easier."

"For you, maybe," she spits back at him, her voice no longer filled with sorrow. It's filled with anger, it's filled with pain, but most of all, it's filled with jealousy. He scrunches his eyebrows in response.

"Do you know how hard it is to live everyday knowing that I'm only one day closer to saving or destroying the world?" he asks. "To know that when you hit sixteen, your whole life is going to end? To know that no matter what you do, it isn't going to matter because you'll just be in hell after the day ends, anyways?"

She looks down, a tear falling from her gray eyes. She doesn't know what to say in response to his true feelings, and it's the first time she's ever been speechless. "What do you want me to tell you?" she asks softly, a few more tears falling. He shrugs once more.

"What are you supposed to say? There isn't anything," his voice is softer now too, as if he understands that he shouldn't be unloading his problems on her. He knows he can, but this isn't the time. Not like this; not when he's just happy to finally have her back. "I didn't stay," he pauses, meeting her gray eyes with his sea green ones, "because the thought of losing you hurt me worse than anything I've ever experienced."

She doesn't say anything. She leans her head against his shoulder, taking in his scent; something that she had missed while he was gone. She still doesn't take anything, just drinks in the fact that he's still here and that he isn't going anywhere; not for a year or so, anyways. Her heart aches at the idea of the prophecy nearing, his sixteenth birthday nearing every day.

He leans his head on hers and closes his eyes, also drinking in the fact that she's here. Her lemon scented hair, her gray eyes, her know-it-all demeanor; he missed it more than he wanted to admit. He had lost her once before at Westover Hall and for the first time, it deems on him that Calypso's father is the reason for the gray streak in both his and her hair. He finds it kind of cute how the both have a gray streak in the same spot, but he'd never admit it out loud.

"You could have stayed," she finally says, breaking the silence. "You could have escaped the prophecy and not have to worry about anything," she tells him. She pauses, taking a deep breath. "Coming back was a stupid idea. At least you could have survived there, had a sixteenth birthday but not have to worry about everyone trying to kill you." Stupid as it may be, he chuckles at her response.

He nods, watching the waves overlap each other. "I could have," he says, "but you don't call me Seaweed Brain for nothing, now do you?" For the first time in two weeks she smiles.

They stay there until the sun goes down and another two hours after that. They watch the stars, the lay down, they skip stones, but they don't speak. There's no words to be spoken. For now, they're just happy to have each other. Things are about to get very, very complicated; the war, his birthday coming up, but none of it matters because right now, they have each other, and that's all the two of them have ever needed since they were twelve.


	2. Author's Note

Authors Note:

So I've been thinking a lot about this.. I keep having tons of ideas for Percy and Annabeth one shots and song fics, so instead of making them each individual stories, I've been thinking about just adding chapters that are just random one shots/song fics.

What do you guys think?


	3. Tonight, Tonight

_A/N: Song is Tonight, Tonight by Hot Chelle Rae. Yes, I know I left out some parts, but these fit the story the best. _

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><p><em>It's been a really, really messed up week<br>seven days of torture, seven days of bitter_

Percy's sixteenth birthday draws closer with each day that passes. Now, it's August 11th and there's only a week left to prepare for the battle. More and more campers become injurned everyday and they aren't quite sure what to do. Half of their army is in the infirmary and the battle hasn't even started.

Percy's sure that they're screwed and he's more sure than ever that he'll die in a week. He tries to keep his chin up, training harder than he ever has. By now, he's most definitely their most skilled swordsman, but he still swears it isn't enough.

He's in the sword fighting arena, practicing on one of the dummies. He slashes upward and rips the dummy in half, causing straw to spew everywhere. He grips the hilt of riptide so hard that his knuckles turn white. De-gutting the dummy isn't enough for him, however, and he swings the sword in a way that decapitates it.

_La, La, La, whatever  
>La, La, La it doesn't matter<br>La, La, La, oh well  
>La, La, La<em>

"Someone's a bit angry, now aren't we?" he hears a voice. He turns around, meeting the eyes of a certain gray eyed, blonde haired girl that he's been avoiding all week. He doesn't want to avoid her - he really doesn't, but things have grown awkward between them. What are you supposed to say to your best friend when you both know that one of you, or even both of you, might end up being killed within the week?

He shrugs, running his free hand through his hair. "What's there to be mad at?" he asks. He caps riptide and slips it into his pocket. "The gods have sealed me into to this prophecy where I'm going to die before I can even drink legally just to save them, but what's to be mad at?" He groans in frustration, hitting the wall so hard next to him that Annabeth jumps.

She switches her weight to the other foot, staring at the floor. It kills her to see her bestfriend like this; so hurt, so broken, but she doesn't know what to say. She knows as well as him that there's no avoiding a prophecy, but she'll try her best. He leans his head against the wall, fists clenched above his head. If Annabeth isn't mistaken, she swears she sees a tear roll down his cheek.

"Listen," she says, approaching him slowly. "I honestly have no clue how you're feeling," it feels weird for her to say that she doesn't have a clue, but she's never been one to lie much. "But what I do know is that we're not going to go down without a fight. We can.. We'll fight harder than we ever have before." The two of them sit down, back against the wall. "Do you remember back when we were thirteen and we snuck out of camp to retrieve the golden fleece and I got dropped onto a huge pile of rocks head first?"

He stays silent, but gives her a knowing look. He remembers perfectly. The two of them had almost died several times that day and he had even been turned into a guinea pig. She continues. "You didn't leave me," she tells him, "you were the one who put the golden fleece on me, saving my life. You saved me, Percy, more times than I can remember."

He looks down at his mud covered converse, not really knowing what to say. He'd do anything for her and she knows that. "It wasn't just me," he says, looking over at her. "Grover, Clarisse, and Tyson helped."

She shrugs in response, a small smile tugging at her lips. "It doesn't matter," she tells him. She stands up, brushing her jeans shorts off. Her fingers go to her camp necklace. "You saved me, I'll save you. Even if it's the last thing I do." And with that, she walks out, leaving Percy and a decapitated and headless dummy alone.

_We're going at it tonight, tonight,  
>There's a party on the rooftop,<br>Top of the world tonight, tonight  
>And we're dancin' on the edge of the Hollywood sign<em>

They're in Manhattan now, preparing for the battle that could start any second. They're huddled up, deciding who covers what area. Percy, a bit more confident now that he's invincible thanks to a little dip in the River Styx, tells everyone where to go and what to do when they get there. Annabeth studies him. She knows there's something different about him, but she's not sure whether it's the fact that she can't quit picturing him as that scared little twelve year old boy that she fed nectar and ambrosia to while he drooled in his sleep or maybe she's just worried for him.

"This is it guys," he says, his hand instinctively going to his pocket where riptide was. He knew that things were about to get very, very bad. Worse than when he fought Ares on a beach when he was twelve. Worse than when he thought he had lost Annabeth forever when she was taken over that cliff. Now, he's almost positive that many, many of the friends he's grown close to over the four years he had been at camp were about to die and there's nothing he can do about it.

"We're going at it. Now or never. Uh," he pauses, not really sure what to say. He's never been good at giving motivational speeches, especially when he's not motivated whatsoever. "Just, uh, try not to get killed." Annabeth cracks a smile, knowing for sure he's still that same little boy that's never been all that bright. He gives her a lopsided grin, but it's only half hearted. He doesn't know if this is the last time he'll ever see her and it breaks his heart. He turns to the rest of the campers, a newfound adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"We make it out of here alive," he says, his sea green eyes scanning their worried faces. "Party on Olympus, top of the world." He puts his fist in and everybody follows his lead, even Annabeth. With that, they take off in their seperate directions, some of them for the last time.

_I don't know if I'll make it,  
>But watch how good I'll fake it.<br>It's all right, all right._

Annabeth and Percy make their way around the city, doing their planned jobs. They've been silent the entire way, neither of them wanting to break the silence. It's been nice, the two of them just together, basking in the presence of one another. No words really needed to be said.

Finally, Percy breaks the silence. "We're going to make it," he says. He honestly doesn't know. At any second, anything could happen and it terrifies him. If he dies before saving Olympus and western civilization, then he dies for nothing and he can't let that happen. "Everything's going to turn out fine."

She stops suddenly and he turns, Riptide drawn. He lets his defense down a big when he realizes that nothing's there except for a smiling Annabeth. "I know," she says, nodding once. Her eyes look glassy as if her eyes are filled with tears, which Percy later realizes that they are. "I know, Percy," she says. With her knife in her right hand, Percy's hand in her left, they continue on and for the first time, they realize everything will turn out okay.


	4. I can't do this Alone

_A/N: This is just a very short one shot about Percy and Annabeth's first year anniversary, but Percy isn't there to share it with Annabeth._

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><p>She wakes up that morning, fully intending on marching straight to cabin three. Her spoil proof plan includes first, taking him a batch of blue homeade cookies. She'd listen to him go on and on about how they weren't as great as his mother's, but he'd thank her multiple times. Next, they'd spend the day together doing Zeus knows what, just hanging around most likely by the water.<p>

It's only when she's pulling her hair back into a ponytail and stuffing her yankees cap in her pocket that she realizes that he isn't there. She realizes that he's still missing, out there all alone, possibly even dead for all she knows. No; not dead. She tells herself that he's okay everyday and that she'd know if something was to happen to him.

It doesn't take the pain away. It's always been him and her; Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl. It's been that way since they were twelve. They never left each other's side other than the school year and if gods forbid it happened, they made sure they made their way back to each other.

But he wasn't there. Nobody was waiting for her by the big house every morning. There was no one there for her to teach ancient greek to in the morning. There was nobody there to just be there for her. He was gone and she didn't know if or when he would come back.

She avoids everyone today. She doesn't train, eat, or even sleep. There's blueprints spread all over her bed, but she's too unfocused to even think about designing right now. She doesn't cry or even show that she's upset. Her siblings worry about her, for she just stares at the wall with a blank expression.

After a few hours of this, she pulls herself back out of bed, limb by limb, and heads down to the lake. There's a few campers around, but they scatter when they see her coming. They know that today has to be hard for her and an upset Annabeth is not something that people take lightly to.

She thinks back to when she first met him, how she fed him nectar and ambrosia in the big house. He drooled in his sleep and she thought he was a little cute, but she was more interesting in his knowledge than anything. She remembers grilling him each time he opened his eyes for a moment, wondering if he was the one. She didn't know it then, but he definitely would be the one; not just the camper they had been waiting for, but the one she would give her heart and soul to, the one that she'd fall in love with.

She lets her mind wander to the next year at Camp Half-Blood, when her, Tyson, and Percy had snuck out against the rules to find the Golden Fleece. She can almost feel his arms holding her tightly as she sobs into his shoulder after their encounter with the sirens; _almost._

Then, there's the time that he saved her after she went missing with the manticore. A tear escapes her gray eyes as she thinks back to this. _He found me,_ she thinks, wiping the stray tear from her cheek. _Why can't I find him?_

Their first kiss. It's at Mount St. Helen's as she's sure he's about to die. She doesn't stick around long enough to hear what, or if he even said anything, but she tells herself that he's going to be alright. He's a Seaweed Brain but he's brave and a good fighter and she knows that. She went two weeks without seeing him, her head telling her that there's no way he could have survived, but her heart telling her that he's definitely alive.

Now, she's thinking about exactly a year ago today. They defeated Kronos, she lost Luke, but she and Percy finally had got together. _Stupid Seaweed Brain,_ she thinks, managing a smile through her tears. _It took you four years to finally ask me to be your girlfriend and I had to be the one to make the first move._ Tears are falling freely now as she hugs her knees, staring out towards the horizon.

She wonders if he would remember what today was, other than his birthday. He'd probably remember, but play it off as he forgot, earning a punch from her. Then he'd smile, those sea green eyes of his sparkling like the sea, and kiss her to stop her rambling about how 'it's not okay to forget about our anniversary!' She smiles again, wiping the last of her tears from her face.

"Happy anniversary, Seaweed Brain," she says.


	5. Save the World

**A/N: **The song is Save the World by Swedish House Mafia. It takes place during The Lightning Thief when Annabeth, Grover, and Percy go on the quest. It's tiny, but I still hope you enjoy it!

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><p><em>Into the streets, we're coming down,<br>We never sleep, never get tired,  
>Through urban fields, and suburban life.<em>

He's twelve years old. Twelve years old, terrified, and already convinced that the moment he's back from this quest (though he questions if he actually _will_ come back) that he'll be escorted to the nearest mental institution right away. The boy wants nothing more but to be back with his mother in their apartment. Heck - he even misses _Gabe_ at this point.

It's about one in the morning now and he, Grover, and Annabeth have stopped to rest. Grover falls asleep soon after they stop, but Annabeth and Percy aren't so lucky. He sits next to her, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Hey," he says. He glances over to her. The moon is giving them just enough light to illuminate their faces.

"Hi," she replies. She tucks a blond curl behind her ear that has escaped from her ponytail and cracked open her copy of _Architectual Digest._

"You should sleep," he says it before thinking. He does that a lot, actually, but lately it's becoming more of a habit. He leans his head back on the trunk of the tree he's sitting against. In the darkness, Annabeth shrugs her shoulders.

"Can't," is all she tells him. She flips the page in her magazine. It's hard to read it with her dyslexia, let alone without having any light, so she just squints to see the photos.

"Me either."

_Turn up the crowd now, we'll never back down,  
>Shoot down a skyline, watch it in primetime<br>Turn up the love now, listen up now, turn up the love_

They killed Medusa. He's on every news channel in the country. He's not backing down; not now, not when they've come so far. He doesn't know if he should keep going, though. He's seen so many terrible things since he's learned the truth about his life. So much violence, so much hate. Maybe this quest was crazy and unnecessary. He has no doubt in his mind that even if Zeus had his lightning bolt, they'd find something else to fight about, so why should he be risking his life and his friends life for nothing?

Oh, yeah. Because his innocent mother had been taken in the midst of all this.

He's going to get the bolt. He'll get Zeus' bolt, then get his mother. He wants to, really.. it's just _so_ hard for him. As if finding out he was a demigod wasn't enough, now he has to do the gods' work. He closes his eyes shut tightly, just wanting to disappear for a while. Be normal again. He was never really 'normal' exactly, but at least he wasn't facing mythological creatures everywhere he turned. He's about to turn around, go back to camp and say forget it.

That's when she slips her hand into his.

_Who's gonna save the world tonight?  
>Who's gonna bring you back to life?<br>We're gonna make it, you and I,  
>We're gonna save the world tonight. <em>

"Annabeth," he says, his voice soft with worry. "What if we fail? Will.. uh, the world end or something?" he looks around sheepishly, somewhat embarrassed for having to ask her questions like this.

This takes her a minute to answer. She has a lot of answers for a lot of different things, but when it comes to the gods, Olympus, and western civilization, it's not something you can blurt out the answer for. "I.. I don't know, Percy. It's possible. The gods are very unpredictable. Who knows what Zeus will do if he doesn't get his bolt back," she decides. This doesn't make Percy feel any better. His heart drops to the bottom of his stomach and suddenly any courage he ever had subsided.

"Hey, hey," she notices his sudden change of attitude. "Don't worry, okay? You can do this. We can do this. Save the world, Seaweed Brain."

He squeezes her hand, she gives him a reassuring smile, and they know they can do it.


	6. Together

"Perseus Jackson!" The wind is blowing her hair in every direction possible and she's quite sure that her fingers might fall off from the cold air, despite the fact that she's bundled up in a warm coat, scarf, and ski cap. "If you can't turn the heat on in this car, can you at least tell me where we're going?"

Percy smiles, one hand rested on the steering wheel, the other rested on his legs. Currently, he has Annabeth blind-folded in the seat next to him and hasn't said a word about where he's taking her. She's getting so frustrated, but he couldn't be enjoying himself more. "Just a little while longer," he tells her, a smirk still rested upon his light pink lips. "And the heat _is_ on, but the windows are down."

She shakes her head, plotting and planning a million different things to do to him for revenge. "Your head is full of kelp," she tells him, crossing her arms over her seat belt.

"So I've been told," he replies, a small laugh escaping his lips.

Annabeth rolls her eyes, although the fact is unknown to Percy. "You're lucky I trust you," she says, getting a bit anxious in her seat. She can feel the wind slowing down, so she assumes the car is too, which could only mean that they're nearing their destination.

She should be so lucky.

The engine starts to chug, the car becoming slower and slower until it comes to a stop. "Uh-oh," he says, staring blanky at the speedometer that said 60 MPH just a moment ago, but now rests on 0 MPH. Annabeth's brows furrow together.

"Uh-oh?" she asks. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I thought you were the smart one," Percy mutters under his breath, unbuckling his seat belt.

"What was that?" Annabeth questions accusingly, arms resuming the crossed position.

"Nothing!" He says quickly. "Nothing at all. The car just stopped. Stay right here, I'm going to go check it out." With that, he steps out of the car and pops the hood, only to be greeted with a face full of smoke. He coughs, making an attempt to fan the smoke while covering his mouth.

"Yeah," he mumbles. "Uh-oh." He walks around to the passenger side and opens the door. "Hey, uh, Wise Girl? I.. uh, it um, well, how much do you like to walk?"

Once again, he oblivious to her eye rolling. She unbuckles her seat belt and carefully gets out of the car, closing the door behind her. "You're in luck. I very much enjoy a nice walk in New York, during the middle of November."

"Here," he says, taking her hand. "We're really not that far, honestly." Annabeth just nods, rubbing her thumb on the back of Percy's hand as they walk.

Percy wasn't lying when he said they were almost there. It took them around ten minutes to arrive by foot. Much to Annabeth's pleasure, Percy removed her blindfold.

"The beach, Percy?" she asks, flabbergasted. The sight is beautiful; the sea is almost as gray as her eyes, the clouds seem to touch the horizon and for miles and miles, there's no one in sight, but it's still the middle of November. One step in that water and she'll be in the hospital with hypothermia. However, a smile crosses her face as she turns to the boy beside her. "It's wonderful."

His cheeks redden slightly by the way she's looking at him. He looks down, a sheepish smile hidden. "Then what are we waiting for?" he asks. "Let's go swimming!"

She can't help but laugh. "Okay, you're crazy. Let's head back to the car and call someone to see if they can come pick us up." She turns around and starts to walk, but Percy jogs up behind her.

"Hey, wait!" he says, his arms finding her waist. He picks her up and spins her back towards the ocean. "You're forgetting that you're with a son of Poseidon." He sets her down and grabs her hand, gently pulling her towards the water. "But if you don't want to swim," he says, running his fingers through his hair, "we don't have to. Anything you want. Name it and we'll do it."

A smirk crosses her face and he suddenly becomes terrified. Perhaps he shouldn't of used the word 'anything'. "I can work with anything," Annabeth says deviously. She can think of a million different ways to embarrass Percy, but that's not her goal. "Let's build a sand castle!"

Percy raises an eyebrow. "A.. sandcastle?" Annabeth nods. "Alright," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "Sand castle it is. What's the plan?"

The two discuss (well, argue) different ideas for quite some time. Around two hours later, they're finally finished. Percy thinks it's fantastic, but Annabeth keeps wanting to make alterations. It's big enough for them to sit comfortably in, but neither of them really want to. It's getting dark out and Annabeth thinks they should head home, but Percy begs to differ.

"Let's stay awhile," he says. "I mean, how often do we really get to enjoy ourselves like this?"

She purses her lips, shrugging her shoulders. "I guess you're right," she says, which brings a smile to Percy's face.

"Awesome! I'm going to try to build a fire so it's not as cold, okay?" Percy takes off to find some wood, while Annabeth lingers around the sand castle. Her fingers brush the sides as she walks around, admiring the work that she and her boyfriend did. Within a few minutes, Percy's back with an armful of sticks and one small, thick log.

Together, they manage to light a small fire. "Not bad, Jackson," Annabeth praises, sitting down next to it. She leans in slightly closer to get warm as a shiver runs down her spine. Percy reaches into his backpack, pulling out a small throw blanket.

"Here," he says, sitting down next to her. He wraps the blanket around her gently, which earns him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you." She takes half of it and wraps it around Percy's shoulder, leaning into him snuggly. She rests her head on his shoulder and his arm finds her waist.

"So, how bad was it?" he asks, his eyes gazing towards the ocean. He feels right at home; the girl he likes, the sound of the ocean, and a warm fire. It's like being at Camp Half-Blood, without the worries. "It didn't turn out exactly how I had planned it, but-"

Annabeth interrupts him. "Perfect," she says. "It was perfect. _You're_ perfect," she adds. She readjusts her head to look up at him. "Even if your head is full of seaweed."

He pushes her playfully and she retaliates with a small punch to the shoulder. "Gods, Annabeth. That hurt so much!" he mocks.

"You're invincible, you cheater!" she retorts quickly. The two laugh in unison. Once their laughter fades, their eyes both locked on each other.

"I love you," just like they do everything together - slay monsters, save the world, build a castle - they say their first 'I love you's together. It couldn't have been a more perfect day.


	7. Go Ahead and Smile

"No, Percy, like _this." _It's the third time she's attempted to show him this move and he still hasn't even came close to successfully doing it. She shows it to him one more time. It's simple, really, and for the life of her she can't figure out why he hasn't caught on.

"That's what I'm _doing,"_ he says as he grits his teeth together. He's very tempted to cap Riptide and slip it into his pocket, storm out and never look back. He's fifteen years old; why should he have to learn moves to save the world when he should be dating girls and playing Xbox?

Scratch the girls, actually. He insists that they're all insane.

He makes an attempt to disarm the wildly strong blond in front of him, but the hilt of her dagger comes crashing into his hand, disarming him instead. "Uh, ow? I thought this was friendly training, Annabeth. You broke my fingers."

The girl simply rolls her eyes, one hand going to her hip. "Oh come on, Percy. You've fought Ares before but you can't take a little slam from me?"

It's his turn to roll his eyes. She points her knife at his chest. "I saw that." Percy turns to take a few steps away from Annabeth and try the move one more time, just to please her. And to avoid another knife to the chest, of course.

Percy isn't the only one growing tired of the defense move. Annabeth has well overexerted herself on this move and frankly, she's ready to go train with a dummy. She decides not to scold Percy for turning his back on his opponet, whether they were fighting or not, and uses this as an opportunity to get both her and Percy out of this arena.

She bends down, loosening the lid on her water bottle and pouring a few drops into her hand. While his back is still turned, she throws the small amount of water on Percy's armor and replaces the bottle before his eyes meet her's once again.

His expression softens a bit, but the small smile forming on Annabeth's face doesn't go unnoticed. "What?" he asks, rubbing the back of his neck softly.

An innocent shrug. "Nothing. I just have a good feeling about this one." Although his eyes narrow, he accepts her answer. The two take position, their knees bent slightly and weapons at the ready. Annabeth makes the first strike, a small cut to Percy's arm attempted. He stepsides and parries the blade away.

He's fully aware of his surroundings. He knows which way to move and not to move his blade so that he doesn't hurt Annabeth (although she isn't taking it easy on him, he does have the larger weapon), he's aware of the Stoll brothers beating each other with the armor rather than their swords approximately thiry feet west, and he's aware of the stuffing flying around in the air from the dummy that Clarisse just shredded.

And this time when he attemps the move, it's no longer a fail.

Annabeth's knife goes skidding across the arena floor and suddenly she's falling. Percy catches her a foot before she hits the ground, but doesn't hesitate to point the tip of Riptide at her throat. "Does this mean I won?" The corners of his mouth turn upwards into a goofish smile. He helps her stand up and she retrieves her knife.

"That only took, what, two hours?" She slides her knife back into the strap around her thigh and holds her hand out. "But nonetheless, nice job, Seaweed Brain. I couldn't have done it better myself." Of course, she's lying. She could think of one hundred different ways to do that move differently and more effectively than he did, but she's proud of that Seaweed Brain for finally accomplishing it. Given that he was already an amazing offensive fighter, she just wanted to teach him a bit more defense.

As soon as Annabeth sees how proud he is just in his smile, she knows right then that she'll never tell him that she had to spray him with water to give him a boost just so that he could do it. He's so proud, and she can tell. She'd only be hurting him by giving it away.

And what's the harm in Wise Girl keeping a little secret from Seaweed Brain?

He takes a towel and wipes the sweat beads from his face while Annabeth redoes her ponytail. They take their armor off and stuff it in their bag. Annabeth slings hers over her shoulder, but Percy takes it from her. "I'll take that back to your cabin for you," he says. "You go get something to eat."

She's about to protest and give him a long speech about how she's perfectly capable of carrying a twenty pound bag across camp, but her growling stomach interrupts her. "Thank you," she tells him. She leads off out of the arena, but he stops her.

The blond turns around. "Wh-" Once again, she's interrupted. Not by the growling in her stomach, but she can't bring herself to form a sentence. Percy's lips brush lightly against her cheek.

"Thank _you._" With that, he takes off in the direction of cabin six, sixty pounds of luggage in his arms, while Annabeth is left standing in the entrance of the arena, a confused smile playing on her lips.


	8. Drivers Training

**A/N: **Just a short little one shot I've been meaning to write. I had plans on making it longer, but I'm leaving in about five minutes so I just decided to end it there. I hope you guys enjoy it!

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><p>"Annabe-WHOA-Slo-" Percy could barely get a word in edgewise as Annabeth made her way down the mostly empty road in Percy's truck, which was given to him a couple days after the war by Paul and Sally. He was teaching (More like attempting) Annabeth how to drive, but as soon as she put the truck in reverse instead of drive and hit the gas, he knew he was in trouble. His seat belt was buckled sercurely, his knuckles white from gripping the handle on the door.<p>

"I'm sorry!" She yells, her knuckles also white from gripping the steering wheel. With all her battle training, living at camp almost all year again, and once again, fights with her father and step mother, she hadn't found the time to take regular drivers training. Luckily, the minute she bats her big, storm gray eyes, Percy gives in easily.

She knew this truck was his baby. It was old, maybe a '76. It was rusted by the tires and definitely needed some interior work, but Annabeth had never seen him go a day without talking about it. His deep, sea green eyes would light up, and Annabeth always wondered if that's what her's looked like when she saw a structure that she liked.

That being said, her nerves were also accompanied by the fear of putting so much of a scratch on the less than perfect exterior.

"It's..." Percy trailed off as Annabeth narrowly missed a light pole. "Okay. Just take it easy a bit. You don't have to move the wheel so much." She responds by nodding, taking a deep breath. Her eyes never leave the road, but it's as if she doesn't see it at all. They had only been practicing for a half an hour, but he was sure that he was going to need new tires by the end of the day. Annabeth seemed to favor the big rocks on the other side of the white line.

Coming closer was a sign in the middle of the road with a rather large corn field behind it. The sign was an arrow pointing to both the left and the right. Percy curses under his breath. "Do you think you can manage to turn, uhhh, left?"

"Turn," Annabeth repeats softly. "As in, not going straight." Percy bites back the comment, 'It's not like you're going straight anyways' and nods.

With a wave of courage, she says, "I'll try not to get us killed," which earns a nervous chuckle from Percy. Annabeth comes to a stop as the road ends and turns on the turn signal, readjusting her grip on the wheel. "Let's do this."

There's a rush of thoughts for Percy as Annabeth's foot feels like five pounds of lead on the gas pedal. The first being, 'I've fought a minotaur, a titan, and a million telekhines, and this is how I'm going to go out.' The second was a small prayer to Poseidon not to turn him into kelp by taking pity on him. The third thought was what his shroud would look like and what the person who burned it would say. Perhaps, 'Here lies Percy Jackson, who could fight a minotaur single handedly, but couldn't teach his girlfriend to drive his truck properly. That poor, poor truck."

"Er, Percy? You're supposed to be telling me what to do, not closing your eyes," Annabeth said, tearing her eyes from the road momentarily to glance in the passenger seat.

The boy blinks, his eyes fluttering open. She's already turned safely. "Oh, right. Um, good job," he says, running his hand through his hair. A small sigh of relief escapes his lips. "Pull over up there," he tells her, pointing. "I'll take over and we can go get some lunch."

Managing to take out a few corn stalks as she does it, Annabeth pulls over, puts it in park, and hops out. He strides confidently to the front seat, a lop sided grin on his face. Annabeth scrunches her nose as she buckles her seat belt. "What are you so happy about?" She asks.

Percy smiles. "Because," he says. "I've finally found something I'm better at than you."


End file.
